SOUTHCOM: Joint Task Force Strike Killed Three on Caribbean Vessel
CARIBBEAN SEA — Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere carried out a lethal kinetic strike on September 9 against a go-fast vessel, a small high-speed boat, on routes the command called established narco-trafficking lanes in the Caribbean.
U.S. Southern Command said confirmed intelligence showed the boat’s active involvement in narco-trafficking, adding that the operation killed three people it called narco-terrorists.
The release did not name the dead, identify the boat, give a flag state, list cargo, name a weapon or aircraft, or publish coordinates.
No separate statement on this strike was published by the White House or the Department of War as of 7:00 PM UTC on September 10.
Official Statements
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U.S. Southern Command, press release, September 9: “On September 9, under the direction of U.S. Southern Command, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean. Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking. The operation killed three narco-terrorists.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, remarks to press, Quito, September 9: “And we still blow-up ships if need be. [...] Every target is selected. Obviously it goes through all the lawyers at the Department of War. [...] understand the difference between that and what you saw early last year is those were unilateral operations in international waters. These are combined operations in territorial waters, where we are working with sovereign nations in their own territorial waters.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, remarks to press, Quito, September 9: “We haven’t hidden the fact that we are going to go after narco-trafficking boats. We’ve been doing it now for over a year, and now the difference is that we’re doing it in collaboration and in cooperation with – working alongside countries in the region, in their territorial waters. And in fact, some of these countries are taking the strikes themselves.”
